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Joakim Soria moved one step closer to Tommy John surgery, as a second opinion from Dr. Lewis Yocum confirmed the initial diagnosis of a damaged ulnar collateral ligament. Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star reports that Soria is “taking a few days off to consider options” following the second opinion, but adds that surgery…

Chris Carpenter‘s setback is the biggest story in Cardinals camp, but they did get some good news yesterday as Allen Craig returned from knee surgery to play in a minor-league game. It was Craig’s first action since Game 7 of the World Series, although he was limited strictly to hitting and didn’t run or play…

B.J. Upton returned from last week’s outfield collision with Desmond Jennings to play in a minor-league game yesterday and was slated to make his return to the Rays’ lineup this morning, but those plans were canceled. Manager Joe Maddon told reporters that Upton “came in a little bit sore” today after going 0-for-2 with a…

Stephen Strasburg was impressive in his five-inning start against the Mets yesterday and today the Nationals announced that he’ll get their Opening Day assignment versus the Cubs. It will be the first Opening Day start for Strasburg, who wasn’t called up until June in 2010 and missed the beginning of last season recovering from Tommy…

Whatever progress Chris Carpenter had made in his recovery from a neck injury has been wiped away, as Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that the veteran right-hander has left Cardinals camp “to be further examined by nerve specialists after experiencing renewed symptoms associated with a bulging cervical disc.” In other words:…

This is not a deep thought or anything, but I really do want to know what it is about Dontrelle Willis that makes teams keep signing him. The Orioles are the latest. He’s had two really good seasons. One of them was nine years ago, the other seven. He had one more useful season for…

When Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz settled their Madoff lawsuit the other day, the first thought among most was “hey, it’s not as bad as we thought it would be.” The next thought was “hey, now maybe the Mets can spend some money.” The next thought: “when?” Not too soon, says Sandy Alderson. This doesn’t…

Mel Parnell, who spent his entire big-league career with the Red Sox and led the American League in wins with 25 in 1949, passed away Tuesday at age 89 following a long battle with cancer. Parnell’s 123 wins were the most by a Red Sox left-hander. Besides his 25-win season in 1949, he finished with…

Lance Berkman used a pretty loaded word earlier today to describe how MLB commissioner Bud Selig convinced new Astros’ owner Jim Crane to move the team to the American League West. According to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com, the former Astro said Selig “extorted” Crane into switching leagues as a precondition of ownership. Berkman hasn’t conveyed…

The Phillies released Dontrelle Willis last Friday after he allowed five runs on five hits and four walks over 2 2/3 innings this spring, but it didn’t take him long to find a new home. As first reported by Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com, Willis has latched on with the Orioles on a minor league deal.…

Neftali Feliz, who is making the switch from the closer’s role to the rotation this spring, came out of his start Tuesday against the Cubs after three innings due to right shoulder stiffness. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News has some details: Feliz had pitched three scoreless innings on 49 pitches against the Cubs…

With his fastball reportedly back in the 89-92 mph range, Roy Halladay limited the Orioles to one run and three hits in six innings Tuesday, lowering his spring ERA from 10.57 to 6.59. Halladay, who had given up five homers in three spring starts, allowed just one extra-base hit, an Adam Jones double, in this…

Mark Trumbo‘s attempted transition to third base began with him taking a one-hopper to the face early in Angels camp and today this happened: Mark Trumbo just sailed throw to Albert Pujols, nailing a photographer by the Angels dugout in the back of the neck. 3rd E for Trumbo at 3B — Mark Saxon (@markasaxon)…

Kansas City has added a pair of bench players by acquiring catcher Humberto Quintero and outfielder Jason Bourgeois from the Astros for minor leaguer Kevin Chapman and a player to be named later. Quintero became expendable in Houston with Jason Castro back from injury and veteran Chris Snyder signed this offseason, but his ineptitude offensively…

Nick Hundley and the Padres have agreed to a multi-year contract that covers 2013 and 2014 while including a team option for 2015. Hundley was already signed for $2 million this season and under team control through 2014 via the arbitration process, so the Padres will pre-pay for two seasons of arbitration eligibility in exchange…

The Phillies are already missing 3/4 of their infield due to injuries. Now it looks like the carnage is extending to the backup infielders too: Michael Martinez has a broken bone in his foot. Freddy Galvis is suddenly the starting second baseman, so he’s not a bench infield option, which means that the Phillies are…

Ryan Braun was a late scratch from today’s game with a strained groin and manager Ron Roenicke revealed that the reigning MVP has been playing through the injury for several weeks. Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports that the injury “flared up yesterday after Braun started against the Rangers.” Braun is expected to sit out tomorrow…

Every spring we hear about food gimmicks at the ballpark. Giant burgers. Burgers with glazed donuts for buns. Stuff like that. It’s almost always red meat, however, so I can only assume that the pescatarians are behind this one from the Lake County Captains of the Midwest League: The Moby Dick features a 15″ sesame…

Steve Gilbert of MLB.com has an interesting article about Diamondbacks slugger Paul Goldschmidt, who was a finance major in college and had to pass up a scheduled offseason internship “shadowing a financial investor” after he was called up in August and played into October. And it sure sounds like the 24-year-old first baseman is a…